Thoughts about gardening, art, teaching, our world and life with a child with autism.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter, Models, and Looking Forward

We had a lovely Easter. We enjoyed church in the morning, then drove down to see my sister and her family. My parents and one of my other sisters were there too. It was good to see everyone. We also had the chance to stop in and see another long-time friend, Neil. It was so good to see him again. We topped off our Easter by grabbing dinner at one of our favorite restaurants near our old house. We got back home late, and the kids went to bed without any fuss, so the day ended well.

Today is the kids' last day of spring break. They may not be excited about going back to school, but I know they'll be relieved to have their routine restored. Princess Yakyak's soccer practice begins tomorrow and will be twice a week, and her games will be on Sunday afternoons. We'll be starting Safety Guy's math tutoring soon too (probably on Mondays and Fridays, and Scouts are still on Wednesdays). It's going to be a very busy end to the school year. I don't know when we'll get back down to visit family again, but we want to visit my husband's family soon.

Safety Guy's Easter gift this year was a model car to assemble. That's kind of taking my life into my hands, because his patience with model assembly has always been limited, but he has been asking for another model to work on. He loves cars, and wanted to try assembling one again. I picked out a heavy, die-cast body model of a Camaro. It required some assembly (glue and screws) but no painting or decals, and he did most of it himself. It looks good, although he was frustrated with himself when the assembly wasn't as easy as he thought it should be. Still, he did well overall, and I encouraged and helped him when he was upset. Learning patience (with himself and with projects) and the fine-motor skills that go along with model building is a struggle for him. I think he did great on this one - each time it's a learning process, and he gets better. (Princess Yakyak got a Webkinz Angora bunny - no assembly required, lol.)

Safety Guy is anxious about returning to school tomorrow. He's had a long year with lots of changes and lots of bullying issues, and just plain annoying kids in his class. (I have a great deal of sympathy for his teachers - he's part of a very difficult group of kids this year, and he's not a totally easy kid himself. The combination of personalities and behaviors in his class has meant a very long haul for his teachers.) Safety Guy is really annoyed with the kids who pick on him (I can't blame him) or who get on his nerves (frustrating, but he has to learn how to handle that - life won't go out of its way to NOT annoy him). I'm glad there's only about 8 weeks left in the school year, for his sake. I'm hoping to get out of this school year without any major meltdowns on his part. His CSE meeting is coming up in early June, where we'll work on next year's accommodations for seventh grade. This will be a very interesting year, I'm sure.

I also need to contact the Boy Scout camp he'll be going to early in July. It will be his first time going to summer camp, and for a whole week at that. I'm certainly not worried about his safety, but I am concerned that the counselors working with him understand that his Aspergers will require some extra attentiveness and help on their part for his experience to go well. He's excited about going, and he needs to decide which badges he's going to work toward while he's there. He's not a big hunting/fishing/sports kind of guy, so we'll have to steer him toward things that are more in line with his interests while challenging him to do his best. I'm sure he'll have lots of fun - and I'm sure I'll be on pins and needles the whole week he's gone, wondering how his camp experience is going. I don't think I'll ever stop worrying about how he's doing; this is just a taste of things to come.

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Just as I am. . . .

I am a Christian mother, teacher, gardener and artist, living in Central New York. I have two kids (both teens, son and daughter - amazing people!).
Gardening is my passion, and influences my art, as well as bringing peace to my life. I used to tell people that gardening was cheaper than therapy. Hah. But it's a lot more fun.